


The Beast Within

by Blaze_Titanium



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Dimension Travel, F/M, I can't believe it's not Billdip!, Moderate Violence, Moderate language, No hate just trying to be different
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-08
Updated: 2016-09-10
Packaged: 2018-08-13 19:54:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 16,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7984180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blaze_Titanium/pseuds/Blaze_Titanium
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For sixteen-year-old Terrance White, a hermit living in Gravity Falls, life just keeps getting harder and harder. Mostly because he can't remember certain nights after he wakes up in the morning. The residents of Gravity Falls are suspicious of his every move, they believe he's up to something. There was the accidental forest fire, the fact that Terrance lives all alone without any supervision, not to mention the creature supposedly stalking the patch of woods around Terrance's cabin, something called the "Beast of the Backwoods", some kind of pet, perhaps? A chance job at the Mystery Shack may help him finally put his life together with the assistance of the Pines twins. The only thing is that he has a bit of a, uh, supernatural problem, and no one is really sure how to fix it...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Teenage Hermit

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, friends! I am Blaze Titanium! I am actually brand new to this site! I heard this is the place to be for posting stories other than FF, so I'm going to give it a shot, see how things go. So, for some background, I am relatively new to the Gravity Falls fandom. I haven’t even watched the whole series yet, but am doing so currently so as much as I can! Don’t worry, though, I do research beforehand to make sure I get things as accurate as possible. Anyway, this is based around my OC, Terrance, and it’s my mission to make sure I get him assimilated in this universe the best I can. I won’t disclose what I have planned for this story quite yet, and am actually open for suggestions for some possible story arcs. (Though this site doesn't have a PM feature yet, though.) Also note that this takes place after episode four of season one and will continue with other episodes that are slightly altered while having new content as well. Comments are my utter addiction, so do please tell me if I’m doing well! Now, without further ado, please enjoy yourself!

The Teenage Hermit

 

The worst way to wake up in the morning is to not wake up at all. Terrance wished it was one of those days.

 

It was early in the first week of June when Terrance felt the cooking rays of the rising sun bearing down on his face. Several mosquitoes skipped across his body, marking him with their infuriating bites. Terrance was so exhausted, he didn’t even realize where he was until he turned over in his drowsy stupor, a particularly long blade of grass sliding right into his nose. He awoke with a jerk, snapping up into a sitting position as he instinctively slammed his hands down in front of him. Recoiling in pain, Terrance found that he had just punched himself in the groin. Squirming about on the forest floor, he felt a sharp rock poke into his shoulder, realizing that he wasn’t wearing a shirt. Forcing his weary eyes open, Terrance was instantly assaulted by a pure beam of sunlight that struck his corneas. Grunting, he kept his eyes shut for a moment and gradually opened them again to adjust. When he saw the condition he was in, he moaned like an animal stuck in a trap.

 

He always hated waking up naked.

 

It took Terrance a full minute to stand up, the bones in his legs put up quite the argument with heavy, aching pains. Completely in the nude, he stumbled through the brush towards a building about forty yards away. For once, he had woken up near his home, as he soon discovered, and that was a rare blessing. One time, he had awoken in the marshes about ten miles to the south, he had gotten the nastiest case of a yeast infection he had ever heard of. That took about a month to go away and was quite unsightly to behold. As he stumbled across the thick patches of grass on the west end of his property, he failed to notice the police car sitting on the other end of his cabin. It wasn’t until he rounded the corner when he came face-to-face with two very unwanted guests. Conveniently, a pile of old oil drums blocked the view from below his waist.

 

“Mornin’, Terr-” Sheriff Blubs began before noticing Terrance wasn’t wearing a shirt, “Are you naked!?” His partner, Deputy Durland, immediately covered his eyes, shrieked, and ran off. Terrance found himself grinning slowly, his dried up lips peeling away to give sight to his yellow, faded teeth. As he exhaled, he felt the rank stench of something particularly horrendous wafting back up from his stomach.

 

“Just enjoying the sun.” He joked dryly, simply standing there as Blubs looked away.

 

“Don’t you have any decency!? Put some clothes on, boy!” Blubs scolded.

 

“Hey, you’re the one, ugh,” Terrance countered before releasing a big burp, “Trespassing.” Terrance’s face screwed up as the smell of rotten meat hit his nose, that certainly wasn’t good.

 

“The Beast of the Backwoods is back,” The sheriff explained, “Durland and I are supposed to be looking into it.”

 

“Oh, wow, that’s new.” Terrance yawned as he casually walked out from behind the barrels and went past the sheriff, “I didn’t know you guys actually did your job.”

 

“Well, as much as we don’t wanna, there’s a big reward for whoever catches it.” Blubs explained.

 

“Haven’t seen a thing,” Terrance said, climbing the steps up to his front door, “So you can go now.”

 

“I told you this wouldn’t work!” Deputy Durland called from behind the squad car, “Manly Dan’ll catch the darn thing anyway!” Terrance snarled, mustering up the biggest loogie he could before spitting it out. It was a bit concerning that it was tinged red.

 

“I hear you say his name again, I swear I’ll report you two for looking at an underage kid while he’s got no clothes on! Now get out!” Terrance shouted. The Corduroy name was not something Terrance took too fondly in hearing.

 

“Alright, alright, we’re going.” Sheriff Blubs responded, trotting back over to the car, “We’ll see you at the first of the month, Terry!”

 

“The bank’ll get there damn money!” Terrance shouted, “Tell Dan to stick it when you see him, yeah?” He didn’t even wait for a response from the officer as he opened his front door and slammed it behind him. With his hands on hips, Terrance stared at his dingy home. The one couch in his living room was covered in old, dirty clothes. Terrance walked over to the rickety, wooden coffee table and picked up a big jar full of clear liquid.

 

 _“Good thing those two didn't come in,”_ Terrance thought to himself, _“Left the jar out again…”_ He casually took the container over behind the couch where a chest sat against the back wall. With a swift kick, the chest was knocked several feet back to reveal a small trapdoor set into the floor. Terrance bent down and opened it, stashing the jar inside before shutting the hatch and pulling the chest over it again. For a sixteen-year-old kid, Terrance was pretty decent at finding moonshine in such a dry county. It was worth having the connections. Then again, it's not like he ever shared it. Turning away, he felt the urge to retrieve the jar and take a swig, he was sure it was early enough for him to enjoy a slight buzz before the day could fully begin. Resisting the thought, he walked into his bedroom to regard his bed.

 

“Let's see how long I have to sleep.” Terrance mused aloud as he grabbed the old-fashioned alarm clock on his nightstand. It informed him that it was only eight in the morning, giving him about two hours to rest before his next job. He grabbed the ancient dial in the back and set the alarm to go off at ten o’clock. Unceremoniously jumping into his bed, Terrance covered his bare body with the numerous animal skin pelts that he used as blankets. Within seconds, he was fast asleep, already wanting to forget the troubles of the waking world.

 

* * *

 

When the alarm clock went off, it's worn gears nearly snapped as the ancient device shook itself, sounding off its trademark, shrill cry. Another thing about the clock was that one of its tiny legs were shorter because it had gradually retreated inside of the frame over time. This being said, Terrance, who was a very deep sleeper, wasn't jostled awake until the misshapen alarm clock clattered off of the nightstand and right onto Terrance’s head. The teen woke with a start, instinctively sitting up and swinging his fist downwards to once again hit himself in the crotch. Cursing loudly, Terrance rolled out of bed and got to his feet, groggily grabbing the alarm clock and putting it back on his nightstand. Turning around, he stared at the mirror hanging on the wall right next to the doorway.

 

It was one of those mirrors that were long enough so that people could check out their entire body. It hung at an angle because of the single rusty nail set into the wall behind was slowly coming apart. If Terrance had OCD, he would've adjusted the mirror. Then again, if he wasn't so lazy, he would've cleaned out the entire cabin to look, and smell, nicer, too. Well, if Terrance did care about the state of his things, he would've changed out the mirror completely. After all, the giant smashed section in the corner made it hard for him to inspect his face. Speaking of looks, Terrance walked up to the mirror to check out his bare body before he got dressed. His father had always told him that he was an attractive young man, having the body of some sort of model.

 

 _“It's because of all of that hard work you do, Terry. Strong like a lumberjack, tan like a farmer, and especially as smart as a blacksmith.”_ His father had told him several years ago. Though it had been five years since he had anything close to a proper educational lesson, if there was anything that Terrance could handle with the level equivalent to a doctorate, it was smithing. He didn't need anymore education, he was set for life with his current set of skills.

 

He had only been twelve when his father had started teaching him the basics of smithing. It had been, thankfully, an excuse for him to not do any academic work. Though his father did not really approve of Terrance only wanting to learn how to smith, he did get immensely proud that his son wanted to follow in his footsteps. This was how it went for the next five years, Terrance simply found excuses to avoid his studies and pushed to work in the forge whenever he could. Now it was simply a matter of survival for Terrance, he didn't give much of a thought towards education anymore.

 

 _“Where are you, dad?”_ Terrance asked internally, reaching up to carefully feel the fractured cracks that stretched across the top of the mirror. As they were uneven, Terrance’s face was distorted in different sections by the shifted glass. For some reason, he averted his gaze after a moment, something was making him uncomfortable. He knew that it had some overlying meaning but he couldn’t really think of it, or wanted to. It had been two months now since his father had disappeared, Terrance had been busting his ass off to make ends meet alone. He knew that after a few months time, he’d grow more and more tired of it, and soon, he would have to give up. His eyes shifted slightly to look at his most prominent feature.

 

Three distinctive scars had been dug into his chest from who knows what. They were claw marks, Terrance knew that much, but from what, he wasn’t sure. The only logical thing would be a bear, no other animal had claws big enough to cleave such large marks into Terrance’s chest. He had awoken in the forest like he had for a while now just after his dad had left, finding the scars on his chest. It was strange, the night before, there was nothing. The next thing Terrance remembered was finding the marks on his chest, but they had healed somewhat, as if he had had them for many years before. He couldn’t explain it, he had even went to see a doctor about it, who had simply theorized that it had been a bear like Terrance had originally thought. It was just another mystery in his life he couldn’t put together, everything was like pieces of a big puzzle scattered around, too hidden for Terrance to find them and put them together. Shaking his head, Terrance took a moment to check out the rest of his body.

 

Though the scars were an ugly brown, the rest of his body was deeply tanned. He had glimpsed photos of celebrities posing on magazine covers at a store, their skin were just about as tan as his, but more of a sickly, unnatural orange. In a way, Terrance had earned his tan, it was about standing out in the sun and working in the forge for hours on end. To those snobby celebrities, it was about paying to get sprayed by some liquid. For Terrance, it was about staying natural and doing things through old-fashioned labor. His hair, too, was another feature that he took pride in, as it was something he had naturally as well, no artificial tampering whatsoever. Brown like coffee, Terrance’s hair was shaggy, kept long enough in the back to sweep up the nape of his neck but short in the front to not fall into his eyes. His eyes were darker, like the bark of an evergreen tree, but were light enough to make his pupils stand out. There was a tendency, Terrance’s father had told him, that his pupils would flare when Terrance got mad, usually when he wasn’t allowed to work in the forge. Internally, this made Terrance laugh, but he rarely smiled on the outside anymore, just had this passive, tired look on his face along with the heavy bags under his eyes. The grin he had given Sheriff Blubs had been a rare one, having more disdain than enjoyment in all honesty. It was with this same expression that he grabbed his work clothes.

 

Since he hadn’t bothered cleaning himself off from all of the dirt smeared all over his body from his night out in the woods, Terrance decided to put on these worn clothes so he wouldn’t ruin his “nice” clothes. This was for various reasons, of course, as Terrance didn’t have any running water in his cabin, and if he wanted to shower, he would have to either drive across town to the truck stop and use their grimy shower stalls or go down to the lake and risk getting in trouble for exposing himself again. Seriously, who goes fishing in the outskirts in the northwest end of the lake? Like mind your own damn business and fish out in the open waters. It bothered Terrance immensely and he had stopped going there. Plus, it was about a mile from his home, and he got lazy with walking that far after working. The other reason he didn’t want to dress “nice” was because it made his clients feel uncomfortable with some “regular joe” working for them. Terrance didn’t particularly give two shits, but he needed all of the money he could get, so he put the extra time to put his work clothes on. Finally, these were his _nice_ clothes, which was just what he casually wore, not like a suit or anything. Especially not like those college kids who came to mess around last summer in their flashy polos and pink shorts. What a bunch of losers…

 

So, as Terrance dressed himself in a pair of rain boots, heavy construction overalls, a thick white sweatshirt, and a pair of working gloves, he snatched some jerky and prepared to leave. Jerky was Terrance’s favorite food, it was basically the only thing he ate because it tasty, it was practical, it didn’t spoil, and it was pretty damn cheap. He was exclusively carnivorous, he never ate any kind of fruits or vegetables anymore because they didn’t really appeal to him nor did they help with his appetite. Terrance couldn’t really buy much other meat or sweets either, as they were either too expensive or Terrance didn’t trust them to be good enough to eat. He knew he was picky, but he didn’t really have a choice, he was living in a more “barebones” manner compared to most. That being said, this was deer jerky, his favorite, and he bit into it with delight as he walked out from his cabin and towards his truck, making sure to have his “nice” clothes in hand to put on later.

 

The truck, much like Terrance’s life at the moment, was complete shit. It was a 1982 Chevy C-10, and it used to be a dark red, but the rust had degraded it so heavily that it was the ugliest shade of mottled brown. The front fender was about to fall off, its once chrome finish now a dull gray. Coupled with the shattered right headlight and the missing mirror on the same side, it was repulsive just to glance at, let alone drive. Terrance tried ignoring everything else that he hated about the truck as he wrenched the door open, hearing the earsplitting screech as the hinges swung open. No, oil did not help with this piece of trash of a truck, but Terrance wished it would. Using his upper body strength, Terrance pulled himself nimbly into the driver’s seat, patted his pocket to make sure his wallet was there, slammed the door closed, and started the engine. As the engine coughed and then abruptly started, Terrance felt the need to mutter off a string of curses as he got himself situated in the horribly uncomfortable seat, glancing in the back window to check if his toolbox and ladder were in the bed. Once he was done, Terrance ripped the shift knob into drive and slammed on the gas, eager to get the day over with so he could sleep the night away, that is, if he was allowed to.

 

* * *

 

Three hours later went by before Terrance could finally take a breather. He had driven into town to a small home two blocks from downtown. His job, though sounding simple, was to weld over a fracture in the frame of a furnace. Along with working in a forge with metals, Terrance’s father had taught him to weld and perform basic maintenance on a variety of objects. That was Terrance’s primary source of income, fixing and maintaining people’s machines whenever needed. Though he preferred being a blacksmith, like his father had been, Terrance was forced to do all of this work as a “handyman” in order to make ends meet. Turning off his welder, Terrance lifted up his welding helmet to see elderly Mrs. Forrester coming down to greet him.

 

“I made you some ice tea, dear, you looked exhausted when you arrived.” She informed Terrance, handing him a glass filled with a brown liquid and ice cubes. Though Terrance had had regular tea before, which he really didn’t mind, he hadn’t had this kind before.

 

“Thank you.” Terrance said, giving her a polite smile as he gulped down the tea. To be honest, he wasn’t really fond of it, it had this striking, bitter taste that made his tongue recoil in disgust as he drank.

 

“Anything left to do, then?” Mrs. Forrester asked, looking past Terrance to inspect his work.

 

“Nope, that should be about it. When your husband gets home, just have him start it up as normal, the weld will have cooled by then.” Terrance explained. He was surprised, shocked even, to feel his jaw ache slightly from saying that sentence. Guess he didn’t really talk much anymore.

 

Mrs. Forrester rolled her eyes, “Oh, who knows when he’ll be back. He’s always at that place on the edge of town, the ‘Mystery Shack’. I think it’s a waste of time and money, but he adores it.”

 

“A tourist trap, huh?” Terrance responded, gathering up his tools, making sure to gently hand the empty glass back to Mrs. Forrester.

 

“Yes, I suppose you could call it that. It’s been in such disrepair lately, I’m surprised it hasn’t been shut down.” Mrs. Forrester mused as Terrance only half-listened, trying to gather up his stuff as quickly as possible.

 

“Yeah…” Terrance murmured, making it sound like he was still caring, he just needed his reward.

 

“I’m surprised old Stan Pines hasn’t contacted you yet, he needs to get that ramshackle hut of his in shape.” Mrs. Forrester stated, causing Terrance to look up with sudden interest, “You’re really the only handyman in town that I’ve heard of, surely he needs your help.”

 

“Hmm,” Terrance pondered, standing up as he rubbed his chin, “Where is this place?”

 

“You say you’re from town and you haven’t heard of the place?” Mrs. Forrester questioned.

 

“I live a couple miles out in the woods,” Terrance told her, “I don’t really get involved with what the town does.”

 

“So you haven’t been part of that wild goose chase for the ‘Beast of the Backwoods’, then?” She asked, narrowing her eyes at Terrance as if he had done something wrong.

 

“Of course not,” Terrance scoffed, “I’m not stupid.” Contrary to his claim, Terrance was _considerably_ stupid for his age. He thanked that no one in the county was very educated, because he hated being talked down to by people who thought they were better in some way than him. Once again, it wasn’t Terrance’s fault he couldn’t attend school, he had no choice.

 

Mrs. Forrester laughed as she lead Terrance upstairs, “The town can get into such an uproar about anything these days. It’s like the summer heat shakes up their brains a little.”

 

“Kinda like sheep…” Terrance found himself saying quietly.

 

“Well, I wouldn’t put it like that, but I guess that would make sense.” Mrs. Forrester commented, opening the front door for Terrance, “But if you would like to visit the Mystery Shack, it’s just a little northwest from here. There are signs for it everywhere, you can’t miss it!”

 

“Thank you,” Terrance said, walking out onto the front porch, “I’ll head over there right now.”

 

“Oh, here is your pay.” Mrs. Forrester said, handing Terrance a wad of several twenty dollar bills, “That’s two hundred and forty dollars for you.”

 

Terrance flashed her a genuine smile, “Thank you very much, ma’am. Means a lot.”

 

Mrs. Forrester beamed, “Of course, you seemed to get things done correctly. You need some sleep, dear, those bags don’t look good on you!” Terrance found himself smirking, as if he was getting scolded by his grandmother for something. Then again, Terrance never knew any of his other relatives other than his father. Regrettably, Terrance never even knew much about his mother, either. She was only an enigma Terrance’s father would briefly mention.

 

Terrance chuckled lightly, “I get it where I can. Thank you for the tea, I'll be heading by the Mystery Shack as I said, hopefully there's some kind of opportunity there.”

 

Mrs. Forrester waved as Terrance walked to his truck, “Take care now, dear!” Smiling extra big for the sake of her generosity, Terrance gave a wave back and climbed into his truck. He triple checked to make sure the money was secure in his wallet before starting the engine and peeling away from the Forrester home.

 

* * *

 

Twenty minutes later, Terrance arrived at the supposed Mystery Shack, stepping out of his truck to stretch as he regarded the building with a sense of disbelief. It was about three times the size of Terrance’s cabin, sporting a tall, slanted roof with “Mystery Shack” in giant letters down the side. The “S” had fallen loose, now spelling “Hack” instead. Terrance chuckled, that was probably what it was anyway: a total joke. Like Mrs. Forrester had said, the place definitely seemed to be in disappear.

 

He could see some of the gutters gathering rust in large majorities. The shingles on the roof had started coming loose in large clumps, making way for some serious flooding if it wasn't fixed soon. He could see that some of the ground around the foundation had started to erode away, something Terrance wasn't even sure he could help with at all. Along with that, he saw cracked windows, large amounts of weeds sticking out around the edges of the building, as well as peeling paint on the “Gift Shop” sign. Though his speciality was metalworking, Terrance could seriously fix up the place. If he played his cards right, he'd get some good money out of it. All Terrance had to do is was smooth talk the owner, hopefully he was gullible.

 

With a stiff, awkward walk, Terrance waltzed right up to the entrance to the Mystery Shack and paused, wondering if he should knock or not. Deciding against it, he slowly opened the door and took a ridiculously big, weird lunge inside. Thankfully, no one was around, allowing Terrance to stand next to the gift shop counter, bobbing on his feet with anxiety. His eyes flitted around, spotting shirts, mugs, keychains, bumper stickers, hats, and even bobbleheads.

 

The thing about Terrance was that, due to his large lack of sleep, every aspect of his personality, senses, even his thought process, was out of whack. He knew he was more bitter, mean, and unfriendly, as well ignorant and slow. The sad part was that he didn't even remember what it was like to be fully rested. He had gone several days at a time without sleep in the past. Right now, however, his nervousness had leaked through, and he wasn't doing very well at hiding it. This wasn't even something to get worried about, Terrance was practically like a small child at times, too impatient or nervous to wait. He hated himself for being like that.

 

 _“Stop being stupid!”_ Terrance mentally scolded himself, _“You look like a little kid right now, Terrance!”_

 

“Uh, can I help you, man?” A voice asked. Terrance spun to his right, his face contorting into a sneer, all of his teeth glinted in the sunlight as he let out a deep growl. The owner of the voice stumbled back into the postcard rack he had stepped out from behind. He was quite young, only about half of Terrance’s size.

 

“Aw, jeez, my bad…” Terrance murmured, rubbing the back of his neck as his face relaxed, “You scared me.”

 

“Yeah, sorry about that.” The kid said, scrambling to get the rack back up. He had messy brown hair, just like Terrance, just not as grown out. As he bent over to pick up some fallen postcards, Terrance could see the kid wore a blue vest paired with a red shirt and gray shorts along with black shoes.

 

“Here, lemme help.” Terrance muttered, jogging over to help collect the postcards even though the kid was nearly done. Grabbing the last two, he handed them over as the kid thanked him.

 

“So did my Grunkle Stan hire you?” The kid asked as he organized the postcards.

 

“Hell’s a ‘Grunkle’?” Terrance blurted without any thought, regarding the kid’s blue and white hat with a pine tree on it. He kinda wanted one.

 

“Whoa, dude, you gotta swear? That's a bit uncalled for.” The kid scolded.

 

“My bad…” Terrance grumbled.

 

“And ‘Grunkle’ is just ‘Granduncle’.” The kid explained, “I'm his grandnephew, Dipper. Dipper Pines.” He extended his hand, which Terrance took, his hand easily wrapping around Dipper’s.

 

“Is that your actual name?” Terrance asked.

 

“Well, no, I just go by that.” Dipper responded, “And you are?”

 

“Terrance.” The older one replied simply, as if it were nothing special.

 

“Terrance what?” Dipper probed.

 

“White.” Terrance said curtly.

 

“Are you, uh, from here?” Dipper asked, visibly starting to get uncomfortable.

 

“Born and raised,” Terrance said, “Unfortunately…”

 

“What's wrong with Gravity Falls?” Dipper asked.

 

Terrance let out a barking laugh, “You obviously haven't heard of me, kid.”

 

“I'm not a kid…” Dipper muttered, crossing his arms.

 

“How old are you?” Terrance asked.

 

“Twelve.” Dipper replied, “Only two more months until I'm a teen. How old are you?”

 

“Sixteen,” Terrance replied before adding, “Don't ever grow up.” His voice coming out as a dangerous hiss. Dipper’s blood ran cold as he saw Terrance’s face contort into that terrifying snarl again, those teeth of his showing once again, yellow and surprisingly long. Then, Dipper saw something shift in Terrance’s eyes, a color shift for a brief moment.

 

 _“Did his eyes just turn yellow?”_ Dipper asked in shock, _“There's something off about this guy for sure.”_ Terrance quickly composed himself.

 

“I'm really sorry, that came out of nowhere.” Terrance said, pinching the bridge of his nose.

 

“You're telling me.” Dipper murmured.

 

“Dipper!” A voice called out from deeper in the Mystery Shack, “You'd better be working out there!”

 

“Actually, Grunkle Stan,” Dipper yelled back, “There's someone here to see you!” A moment later, the owner of the Mystery Shack came trudging into view.

 

“What is it?” He snapped. Terrance shifted towards him, his eyebrows lifting in slight surprise. Stan certainly was old, he was wearing a suit with a fez on his head. He tossed his cane back and forth between each hand as he grumpily looked at Terrance and Dipper standing there. Terrance had to sympathize with the old man, the scowl on his face was just like his: utterly tired with life.

 

“You the owner?” Terrance asked.

 

“I ain't interested!” Stan shouted, waving for Terrance to leave.

 

Terrance shrugged, “Shit, you got me.”

 

“Hey, dude…” Dipper murmured sensitively again.

 

“Oh, sorry, uh, again…” Terrance muttered, “I don't mean to be invasive, but your place is coming apart, sir. I thought I could maybe help.”

 

“Unless you want to do it for free, then no.” Stan said firmly, “I already have my own handyman, Soos.” Right on cue, a portly man with a green shirt stylized with a question mark popped out from around the corner.

 

“Sorry, dude, been holding this job for like, ten years.” Soos explained. Terrance was gritting his teeth, unsure what to offer.

 

“I'll do it for cheap.” Terrance said, “I need something, you know?”

 

Stan seemed to consider this, “Fifty bucks for the whole thing.” Terrance probably would have laughed if he was fully rested, maybe, but it sure wasn't funny right now.

 

“You're screwing with me, right?” Terrance replied, his face dead serious.

 

“Well, how much do you want?” Stan asked impatiently.

 

“A grand.” Terrance stated firmly, crossing his arms.

 

“Alright, get out, I don't need you, kid!” Stan said replying, waving for Terrance to leave. Terrance bit his lip in both nervousness and anger. He could be losing some serious money if he didn’t say anything.

 

“I'll do it for five hundred, come on, please, Mr. Pines.” Terrance begged.

 

Stan raised an eyebrow, “Why do you need money so much?” Terrance was a bit shocked.

 

“Don't you know know who I am?” He asked, almost sounding hurt.

 

“Uh, no, unless my eyesight’s getting worse. Almost thought that Soos was one of my exhibits the other day.” Stan told him.

 

“I always knew I'd be a good exhibit.” Soos agreed.

 

“I'm Terrance White, the blacksmith?” Terrance offered, only getting blank stares as a response, “You know, the hermit everybody is suspicious of? The sixteen-year-old guy living on his own out in the woods?”

 

Stan and Soos exchanged looks, “Nope.”

 

“I got a list of nicknames people call me, but with Dipper here, eh…” Terrance looked at the young teen with uncertainty.

 

“I'd rather not hear them.” Dipper said with a sheepish smile.

 

“Oh, I know who you are now!” Stan suddenly exclaimed, snapping his fingers, “You're the punk who set off that forest fire a month ago!” Terrance turned to Dipper, who was gaping in surprise.

 

“Before I renovated the wall surrounding my forge, there was a large hole that let some embers fly out into the forest. One thing led to another, and that's a major reason people hate me.” Terrance explained.

 

“Why didn't you just bring that up first?” Dipper asked.

 

Terrance sighed, “Because it's one of the earlier things I've done. People just kinda spin lies about me now. Pretty sure the Northwests do it a lot at their fancy parties and whatnot. Fu-” He began before stopping himself, “Whoops, sorry…”

 

“Look, kid, I'm sorry that people hate you, but I don't need you here.” Stan said simply. Terrance grit his teeth even more tightly, but kept his composure.

 

“Fine, I'll do it for fifty.” Terrance muttered quietly. Stan stood there, his arms crossed.

 

“What do you think, Soos? Wanna split your pay with this guy?” Stan asked his employee.

 

Soos seemed to think this over, “Sounds good with me, Mr. Pines. I’d work here for free!”

 

“If only I could work that out without the IRS kicking the door down…” Stan muttered to himself.

 

Terrance grinned wildly, “Thanks a lot, guys! I promise I'll make place look great!”

 

“You start tomorrow, kid, uh, what was your name again?” Stan asked.

 

“Terrance.” The blacksmith said.

 

“Terry it is!” Soos announced, “Welcome to the crew, dude!”

 

“Hey, hey, he isn't full on crew, so no free gift shop stuff!” Stan warned, pointing threateningly at Terrance.

 

“Uh, that's okay…” Terrance responded, “I don’t really need that kind of stuff anyway.”

 

“Alright, Terry!” Dipper exclaimed, offering a high five. Terrance gave a slight smile as he slowly rested his hand on Dipper’s with a puzzled look.

 

“What?” Dipper asked.

 

“I don’t know what you’re doing.” Terrance told him, “Sorry…”

 

Dipper was shocked, “Have you seriously never seen a high five before?” Terrance pursed his lips and shook his head.

 

“Yeah, I’ve been out in the woods all of my life with my dad,” Terrance explained, “He home schooled me and all that, but I’ve never really done stuff like this.” Dipper thought about this for a moment.

 

“Hey, man, you doing anything later? Usually we all, you know, hang out after work.” Dipper offered.

 

Terrance raised a brow, “You three?” He gestured over to Soos and Stan.

 

“Well, not Grunkle Stan, but me, Soos, my sister Mabel, and our friend Wendy usually do something.” Dipper clarified. Terrance pondered this carefully. Truth be told, he had never “hung out” with someone before, and he was quite excited about it.

 

“Yeah, I’d love to.” Terrance said, “I’ve got two more places I gotta go work at first, then I’ll shower and be back around nine. Sound good?”

 

“Perfect. We’ll just be here at the Shack, so just knock when you get here.” Dipper told him.

 

“Alright,” Terrance said, looking over at his temporarily new boss, “I’ll be by at noon tomorrow, Mr. Pines.”

 

Stan scoffed, “Don’t get so excited, kid, I won’t need you until four or later.” Terrance was overjoyed, he could get a decent night of rest!

 

“Yes, sir.” Terrance said teasingly, giving a salute, “See you guys soon!” He gave a small wave as he left the Mystery Shack, smiling the whole way back to his truck. It wasn’t much, but he had secured a way to help gradually pay the bank for the next month or so. Sure he’d have to find something else afterwards, but for now, he could somewhat unwind, just for a little bit…

 

* * *

 

Nearly seven hours later, Terrance drove on the winding road towards the Mystery Shack as dusk settled over Gravity Falls. After handling the two jobs he had to take care of, as well as getting paid for them, he was ready to see what “hanging out” was all about. He had showered at the truck stop on the south outskirts of town like he always did, having changed into his “nice” clothes. He wore faded jeans, brown hiking boots, a plain black t-shirt, and finally a brown coat to top it off. His shaggy brown hair was slicked back from being wet, giving Terrance a more “cool” look.

 

 _“Let’s see how this goes.”_ Terrance thought to himself with a sly grin. He was about a half mile from the Shack when he hit the brakes, pulling over onto the side of the road.

  
“Shit, shit, shit, _shit!!_ ” Terrance cursed, killing the engine of his truck, knocking off his shoes as he practically fell out of the driver seat. Within seconds, he was sprinting into the woods, his coat abandoned in the undergrowth. He could feel his heart racing as he ran, taking one more deep breath before the clouds parted and everything disappeared into darkness...


	2. Things Get Hairy

Dipper awoke the next morning with the same confusion he had went to bed with the night before. Terrance had never returned, and everyone at the Mystery Shack, well, minus Grunkle Stan, were a bit saddened that he hadn’t. Though he wasn’t an actual employee, as Grunkle Stan made clear at least three more times before he went to bed, Dipper still wanted to make him feel welcome. Mabel didn’t even get to meet him and was already excited to “shower him in the welcoming fairy dust”, which was just glitter and nothing more. Still, it would have been nice for Terrance to get to know everyone, after all, the guy seemed really stressed out. The major factor about Terrance was, however, was he was hiding something. Coupled with the fact that he was a no-show last night helped support this.

 

In all honesty, Dipper had stayed up an extra hour after everyone had retired to browse the mysterious journal he had recently acquired. Gravity Falls was a place full of mystery, and Dipper was convinced that Terrance was part of something bigger, something evil, or worse, something supernatural. So far, Dipper had encountered a colony of gnomes, a lake monster that had actually been a machine built by a madman, a sentient group of wax figures, and a small man with a dangerous obsession with Mabel. None of these past encounters added up to Terrance’s strange behaviors. Dipper had jotted down some notes in the strange journal he had found when he had first arrived in Gravity Falls.

 

 _“Sulks, cold stare, snarls, gross teeth, eyes look different when angered, mood swings, long fingers and nails, ‘hated by everyone’, lives alone as a teenager, works in a forge, has a bad smell.”_ Was scrawled throughout one page of the journal. Though most of them were probably Dipper being overly judgmental, it was funny to think that most of these descriptions matched a teenager who never really moved out of their parents’ basement. He stood by his statements, they could always be probable leads to something. To add on to this, Dipper had cross referenced the Author’s entries on creatures in the Gravity Falls area that may match Terrance’s description. He had another collection of options under the list of Terrance’s physical features.

 

 _“Ghoul, lich, zombie (might be right this time), demon, vampire, lycanthrope, skinwalker, wendigo, or just a regular human?”_ The entry listed, questioning whether Dipper was right or wrong with his assumptions. He remembered vividly that the gnomes he had encountered tried disguising themselves as a teenager with features not too far from what Dipper had listed for Terrance. As he sat up, Dipper brought out the journal to reread the list.

 

“Whatcha lookin’ at, Dipper?” Mabel asked from her bed.

 

“I don’t trust this Terrance guy yet,” Dipper explained, squinting at the list of beasts, “Something seems off about him, I just don’t know what.”

 

Mabel rolled her eyes, “Pfft, Dipper, just because he didn’t show up last night doesn’t mean he’s a monster or something.”

 

“Mabel, you realize you went on a date with a bunch of gnomes your first week here, right?” Dipper stated, look over at his sister.

 

“Hey,” Mabel scowled, putting her hands on her hips, “How was I supposed to know that guy was a bunch of smaller guys inside of that hoodie?”

 

Dipper pinched the bridge of his nose, “Look, Mabel, I was wrong to think ‘Norman’ was a zombie, but he did turn out to be a group of gnomes! I’m probably right about Terrance in some way, too! ”

 

“Well, you’ll just have to prove it.” Mabel said, crossing her arms with a smile.

 

“I will!” Dipper declared, hopping up onto his bed and pointed defiantly, “I’ll prove it you!”

 

“Yeah!” Mabel cried, sticking her arms up into the air ecstatically.

 

Dipper slumped in confusion, “Hey, I thought we were competing here.”

 

Mabel waved it off, “Nah, I was just pushing your buttons.”

 

“Well, don’t,” Dipper grumbled, jumping down to the floor, “I may be on an important lead here.”

 

“We will see!” Mabel declared eerily while wiggling her fingers, she pulled out a flashlight and shined it on her face dramatically.

 

“Yeah, okay…” Dipper grumbled, gathering up his clothes, “I’ll see you downstairs.” He then walked to the bathroom to get showered, the thought of their mysterious new acquaintance on his mind.

 

* * *

 

When Terrance, once again, woke up naked in the forest several hours later, he got himself up off the ground much quicker than usual. He had no idea where he was and where his clothes were. This called for desperate stress relief.

 

 _“Shit!!”_ He bellowed at the top of his lungs as he went sprinting through the woods while looking for his clothes, and more importantly, his truck. After twenty minutes of stumbling around, he came across his pants and underwear. He pulled them on quickly, springing to continue looking for his other clothes. Terrance wasn't sure what time it was, but it certainly was in the afternoon. It wasn't after another half hour did Terrance spot a large shape among the trees.

 

“I found it!” Terrance shrieked in joy as he ran over to the truck, finding his coat, shoes, and socks lying on the ground. He put them on, feeling a bit disheartened that didn't find his shirt. Although it was nearly ninety degrees outside, Terrance put on his coat and zipped it up all the way to hide his scars.

 

“Guess I gotta get a new shirt.” Terrance muttered, as he climbed into his truck and drove the half mile to the Mystery Shack. When arrived, he noticed several cars parked there. Terrance assumed that Stan was busy with these “customers” and that he shouldn't go looking for him at the moment. Instead, Terrance entered the Shack, finding a few people browsing the items in the gift shop. He stood by the unmanned register for about a minute before Stan’s handyman from yesterday spotted him.

 

“Yo, dude, Terry!” He called, waving to Terrance. The blacksmith trudged over to the larger, older man with his hands in pockets. Something wasn't right in his gut, and each step he took, he could feel something churning more and more.

 

“What's up, uh, Steve, was it?” Terrance asked, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment. The problem with his sleep deprivation was that he also had a terrible memory.

 

“Soos.” The handyman corrected, not sounding the least bit of offended that Terrance had forgotten his name.

 

“My bad, I have a crap memory…” Terrance muttered.

 

“It's alright, dude, you're really early, though.” Soos told him.

 

“Eh?” Terrance froze, realizing what Soos had said, “You said I’m early?”

 

“Yup.” Soos agreed. Well that was just fantastic, Terrance could have had more time to look for his shirt.

 

“God damn it…” Terrance muttered under his breath, “What time is it, anyway?”

 

“‘Bout two, basically when you came in yesterday.” Soos mused, tapping his chin in thought.

 

Terrance sighed, “Well, you think I should go find Mr. Pines, or do you think I should go home and sleep for another two to three hours?”

 

Soos shrugged, “Up to you, dude.” Terrance sagged with exhaustion.

 

“I might just go sleep in my truck for awhile.” Terrance groaned.

 

“What happened to you yesterday anyway? Dipper was pretty sad you didn't show up.” Soos asked. The guilt and realization hit Terrance at once like a surprise punch, he had forgotten to come by last night. It wasn't his fault, though, he had a little incident that got in the way.

 

“I feel bad,” Terrance moaned, pinching the bridge of his nose, “Some stuff got in the way and I-I totally forgot…”

 

“That's okay, dude, I understand.” Soos said, resting his hand on Terrance’s shoulder. Terrance took notice that Soos was considerably older than him, but his demeanor seemed to make him younger somehow. Still, Terrance was only about two inches shorter, so they kinda seemed similar in age.

 

“Thanks, man. Guess we handymen gotta stick together.” Terrance joked, giving a strained grin.

 

“For sure.” Soos agreed, “If you want to, Dipper and Mabel are probably in the back. Go hang with them until Mr. Pines needs you, I guess.”

 

“Uh, okay,” Terrance replied, pointing at the door behind Soos, “Through there?”

 

“Yup, see ya soon, dude.” Soos said, tapping Terrance on the shoulder before walking away. Terrance stood there for a moment, just kinda bobbing in place. Was he, afraid? No, that was ridiculous, Terrance wasn't really afraid of anything, not even death. He had already had two bouts with his demise, but that was for another time.

 

With his hands shoved in his pockets, Terrance walked into the back area to come face-to-face with a living room. He paused, noticing that even in here, the cheap attempts of portraying supernatural creatures was still prominent. He could easily tell that the giant dinosaur skull lying on the floor was made of paper mache. It was sad, really, to see such a failed attempt at bringing in tourists actually _worked_.

 

“Hey, Terrance, you're here!” He heard a familiar voice call to him. Terrance noticed Dipper sitting on the couch watching TV with whom he supposed was the sister he had mentioned. She had the same color hair as her brother, worn down with a headband over the top of her head. A red sweater with a shooting star trailing with a rainbow, coupled with a purple skirt is what she wore, giving a large contrast in color between the two siblings.

 

“Oh, hey, Dipper, um, I'm sorry about last night, something came up and I was really busy.” Terrance muttered, chewing his lip as he stared at the floor with guilt.

 

“Was there like a reason you didn't show up?” Dipper questioned.

 

“Uh, well, after my last job last night, I was just so exhausted that I had to sleep to get my energy for today.” Terrance lied, albeit not very well.

 

“That doesn't explain why you've still got those bags under your eyes.” Dipper responded suspiciously.

 

Terrance rolled his eyes, “Kid, if only you knew how much I get sleep versus how much I'm awake. It's like a forty-seventy difference.”

 

“That doesn't equal a hundred percent.” Dipper pointed out. Terrance groaned slightly, thinking of a reasonable response.

 

“It's supposed to show I'm up way more than normal.” Terrance responded, the statement seemingly checking out.

 

“What're you hiding?” Dipper asked up front.

 

“Nothing.” Terrance said, crossing his arms.

 

“That sounds suspicious.” Dipper commented.

 

“Like I give a damn.” Terrance responded gruffly.

 

“Why don't you just tell us?” Dipper asked, gesturing to him and Mabel, who surprisingly hadn’t said anything this entire time. Dipper glanced over to see his sister was watching Terrance with an awestruck expression for some odd reason.

 

“Because there is nothing to hide!” Terrance shouted, now clearly enraged, “What do you want me to tell you!? That I vandalized town hall, that I polluted the lake, what damn it!?” Dipper jumped at the sudden raise of volume. Even Mabel was broken out of her trance.

 

“Hey, man, just calm down,” Dipper said gently, holding up his hands, “I'm sorry.”

 

“No you're not,” Terrance muttered, “No one in this damn town is ever sorry.” He then stormed back out into the gift shop.

 

“What'd I miss?” Mabel asked her brother.

 

Dipper crossed his arms in a disgruntled manner, “Well I made Terrance pretty mad. Why were you just staring at him the whole time?”

 

“Because Dipper,” Mabel cried, grabbing hold of her brother’s shirt excitedly, “You didn't tell me he was _gorgeous!_ ”

 

“Uh, what?” Dipper asked in confusion.

 

“Did you see his hair, his eyes, his _tan!?_ ” Mabel screeched, “He was amazing…” She whispered the last part, her eyes glimmering.

 

“So? What's so special about his tan?” Dipper questioned.

 

“It was so natural! People who have a natural tan are much more attractive, everyone knows that.” Mabel stated with a wave, as if it was common knowledge.

 

“Can the undead even tan?” Dipper asked aloud, more to himself than to his sister.

 

“Wait, he's not a vampire!?” Mabel cried in dramatic disappointment.

 

“What? No, well, I don't know…” Dipper grumbled, “I haven't proven anything yet. Though I doubt he's going to be some kind of undead monster. What we have to do is catch him in the act of doing something monster-like.” He tapped his chin in consideration of what to do.

 

“We’ll just follow him home tonight and then watch him until he turns into a bat or goes to drink someone’s blood.” Mabel suggested, still stuck in her vampire fantasy.

 

“Duly noted, Mabel,” Dipper agreed, grinning determinedly, “Tonight we solve this mystery!”

 

* * *

 

Terrance decided to not give a damn about anyone seeing him sleeping and climbed into the cabin of his truck to get some rest. For once, he didn't fall asleep immediately and simply laid there, thinking about how he yelled at Dipper. He certainly felt bad, but then again, the kid was nosey. It was mostly Terrance’s fault, though, he wasn't usually this hostile towards people, he was just exhausted. Still, he had a feeling Dipper would be poking around in his business a lot now.

 

 _“Let the kid try, he'll learn the hard way…”_ Terrance thought to himself. Sinister as that sounded, there were reasons you didn't follow Terrance White after dark. Before he knew it, Terrance managed to pass out.

  


Several hours later, Terrance was woken by a sharp knocking on the window. He sat up to see Stan standing there with a scowl on his face. Quite frankly, Terrance didn't really care, he was just happy to get some sleep in.

 

“What're you doing sleeping out here? My customers could have easily seen you out here!” Stan scolded as Terrance clambered out of the truck.

 

 _“It's because your grandnephew is a nosey brat.”_ Was what Terrance wanted to say, but then again, he couldn't disrespect his client too much.

 

“I'm sorry, Mr. Pines, I didn't sleep well last night, and it turns out I showed up early.” Terrance explained.

 

“Don't you have a watch or something? Maybe a clock on your phone?” Stan asked.

 

Terrance chuckled lightly, “No, of course not. I don't have that kind of money for a phone.”

 

“Wow, you're as cheap as me!” Stan exclaimed with a laugh. Terrance glanced at the Mystery Shack, surely it had to have a substantial amount of money put into it.

 

“I think I have it pretty bad.” Terrance said, “I have no running water, electricity, or gas at my place.”

 

“What kind of hole do you live in?” Stan questioned.

 

“A cabin in the middle of the woods.” Terrance responded, trying to hide his annoyance with Stan’s rudeness, “What can you expect from a sixteen-year-old living on his own while grinding for cash?”

 

“How does that work, anyway?” Stan asked, “I know the law here’s whack but that's just ridiculous!”

 

“When my dad disappeared two months ago, the bank came to me at the end of April and demanded the money we owed in property taxes. I managed to push it back and made a deal with them: As long as I pay twice the amount to them each month, they won’t evict me. It’s not legal in any way, but I have no choice, I’m just a kid with no relatives left, I do what I have to do.” Terrance explained.

 

Stan sighed, “I’m sorry about what I said, I didn’t really know. How much do you owe the bank each month?”

 

“At the beginning of May, I paid them two and a half thousand for the whole month and the half of April. I just paid them again a couple of days ago, that was for this month.” Terrance explained.

 

“So a whole another month ‘till July, huh?” Stan mused.

 

“Yup…” Terrance replied grimly, “I think I might ditch town once I’m eighteen, start over somewhere nice, forget Gravity Falls for good.”

 

“Look, kid,” Stan acknowledged the teen, “I know what I said with the whole ‘working for me’ thing. I don’t really like spending my money but I’ll try to cut you some of the profit, you look like crap.” He offered a smile to Terrance.

 

Terrance couldn’t help but laugh, almost choking up at his good fortune, “Wow, that means so much to me, Mr. Pines.”

 

“Don’t hug me!” Stan warned, stepping back, “Damn people always trying to hug me…”

 

“I promise I won’t.” Terrance laughed, his sleepy gaze mixed with that smile made him look almost relaxed. To be truthful, he did feel at ease, just this once.

 

“Alright, kid, enough of the fluffy stuff.” Stan told him gruffly, “You got to get to work!”

 

“Yes, sir.” Terrance responded with a grin.

 

Stan raised an eyebrow, “Why’re you wearing that coat? It’s like a hundred degrees out here!”

 

“I, uh, lost my shirt…” Terrance grumbled, embarrassed.

 

“How the hell did you lose your shirt?” Stan demanded. Terrance looked down for a moment before gradually raising his hand as if it were a glass of something. He raised his pinky finger in the air and made eye contact with Stan as he pretended to drink.

 

“Aw, geez…” Stan muttered, “Alright, fine, you can take a shirt for free from the gift shop. But that’s it! No more free stuff!”

 

“Aye, aye, captain.” Terrance responded, grinning as he gave a little salute.

 

“Alright, alright, go find Soos, he’ll show you what you need to do.” Stan instructed, “Hurry up before the next round of suckers, I mean customers, come through!” Terrance found himself chuckling like an idiot as he fetched his toolbox from the back of his truck. Stan watched his newest employee walk back into the Shack, resting his hands on his eight ball cane.

 

“Damn it, Stan, at this rate, you’ll be poor as him.” He muttered before laughing, “Still wish I had a body like that, though!”

 

* * *

 

Terrance strode into the gift shop, finding Dipper “dusting” the counter. In reality, the twelve-year-old was just twirling it around in the air with a bored expression.

 

“Hey, Dipper.” Terrance called out to him.

 

Dipper looked up with surprise, “Oh, Terrance, you’re back!”

 

“Yeah, man, listen, I’m sorry about getting mad at you before. In all honesty, it was my fault, I’m just really stressed out and tired lately with work, y’know?” Terrance explained.

 

“You know what, forget about it, man.” Dipper said, waving it off, “It was my fault that I got in your face about what your secret is, and that’s your privacy. I promise I won’t bother you about it again.” Terrance opened his mouth, about to ask what Dipper meant by his choice of words, but decided against starting another possible argument.

 

“That’s nice of you to say.” Terrance said with a wide grin, Dipper managing to get a closer look at his teeth. They were definitely longer than average human teeth, his canines easily looked like that of a vampire or something of the like.

 

“So, uh, where did you go after our, uh, little fight?” Dipper continued, trying to make conversation.

 

“Just to my truck,” Terrance replied with a shrug, “I decided to sleep the whole thing off. Always works wonders for me. Your, uh, ‘Grunkle’ woke me up, actually. Said he’d reconsider my payment plan and offered me a, uh, free shirt.”

 

“Grunkle Stan’s a bit rough around the edges, but he always comes through eventually.” Dipper chortled.

 

“For sure,” Terrance agreed, “What kind of shirt do you think I should take?”

 

“I dunno,” Dipper mused, resting his hand on his chin, “You do look good in brown.”

 

“Brown?” Terrance barked with laughter, “I’ve had enough of the color brown, man. We should choose something a bit more, I don’t know, better.”

 

“That’s where I come in!” Mabel suddenly shouted, bursting out from a rack of shirts, “I think red really goes with your coat and pants, but blue makes your eyes pop!” Terrance backed into the counter, his fingers digging into the wood as Dipper leapt up into the air with fright.

 

“Geez, Mabel, you scared us!” Dipper shouted.

 

“Sorry~!” Mabel apologized in a singsong tone, “But you have to let me choose his shirt, bro-bro!” Terrance stood up straight and chuckled nervously. No one had taken notice of the grooves Terrance’s nails had left in the counter, it was best that it stayed that way.

 

“Yeah, I thought you were Dipper’s sister, it’s like you guys are twins.” Terrance commented.

 

“That’s because we _are_ twins.” Dipper informed him.

 

“Oh, my bad.” Terrance snickered, walking up to Mabel and offering his hand, “Sorry you got to see my bad side earlier. I’m Terrance, well, you know that already I’ll bet.” Mabel dropped the two shirts and shook Terrance’s hand with both of hers.

 

“Mabel Pines, very, _very_ pleased to meet you!” Mabel shook Terrance’s hand giddly, showing off her braces while beaming widely.

 

Dipper groaned, “Mabel, you’re scaring him.”

 

“No, it’s alright, it’s just I’ve never met someone so, uh, happy.” Terrance told him with a warm smile.

 

“So, anyway, Terry, can I call you Terry?” Mabel asked ecstatically, before Terrance could respond, she continued, “Do you like red or blue?”

 

“Sure…” Terrance responded, now a little weirded out by Mabel’s overenthusiasm, “What else do you got?”

 

“Oh, let’s see!” She turned around and began digging through the other shirts, “Black doesn’t work, white’s bland and out of style, yellow is too flashy, orange is a maybe…”

 

Mabel kept going through the shirts as Dipper whispered to Terrance, “I’m sorry about her.”

 

“No problem, man.” Terrance replied nonchalantly. Thirty seconds later, Mabel turned around.

 

“Light gray?” She offered the shirt to Terrance. The teen picked it up and held it to his chest, it would seem to work.

 

“Sure thing.” Terrance stated.

 

“Well, put it on!” Mabel insisted.

 

“Wait, Terrance, you shouldn’t-” Dipper began to warn before Terrance slipped off his coat, revealing his bare torso, “Take off your shirt in front of Mabel…” The thing was, however, Terrance had turned his back to Dipper and his left side towards Mabel during this, therefore effectively hiding his scars from both of them.

 

“Oh, sorry…” Terrance muttered.

 

“Ha, that’s okay!” Mabel replied, waving it off.

 

“It’s not okay, an older guy shouldn’t just _undress_ in front of younger girls.” Dipper pointed out.

 

“Hey, you’re the one who talks about Wendy’s bras in your sleep!” Mabel countered.

 

“Who’s Wendy?” Terrance questioned, looking over his shoulder.

 

“No one!” Dipper insisted, blushing profusely.

 

“She works here, too. Dipper has a major crush on her!” Mabel yelled, pointing at her brother, “He talks about her all the time!”

 

“Mabel, keep it down…” Dipper groaned, pulling his cap down over his eyes.

 

Terrance laughed, “It’s all good, Dipper, I won’t say anything. I think you mentioned her yesterday.” He worked his arms into the shirt, turning around to face the embarrassed Dipper as he them up to slide the shirt down over his head. Dipper happened to look out from under his hat at this moment, with Mabel also taking notice, as the twins stared at the giant scars on Terrance’s chest.

 

“Wh-what happened, Terrance?” Dipper asked in horror.

 

“Oh, this?” Terrance asked, glancing down as if it were just a scratch, “I think it was a bear attack.” He then slid the shirt completely over his torso, revealing the same question mark Soos had on his shirt.

 

“You think?” Dipper repeated.

 

“I can’t remember it,” Terrance explained, “I saw a doctor and that’s the only thing he said it could have been. Said something about how the trauma made me forget it happened.”

 

“Yeah, that is a thing…” Dipper muttered, “Sorry I got so confrontational.”

 

“Nothing to it, you know, just like the last three times you’ve apologized.” Terrance chortled.

 

Dipper chuckled, “Yeah, you’re right.” Suddenly, the door opened and someone called out to them.

 

“Guess who!” The voice yelled.

 

“Wendy, you’re finally back!” Mabel cried with joy.

 

“Gosh, who takes a five-hour break, am I right?” Dipper laughed, albeit nervously. Terrance spun around to meet the final Mystery Shack employee he hadn’t met yet. As he caught sight of her, everything seemed to slow. A warm rush of blood surged through his body like fire, igniting the muscles throughout his body. He felt his fingers moving around uncontrollably, not able to stop it. The internal heat rose to his face as a light blush overcame it. Terrance grit his teeth in protest.

 

 _“What the hell, not this soon! It’s not even night yet!”_ Terrance’s mind raced in a panic, fearing for the worse. Then, after a few seconds, Terrance realized that it wasn’t what he thought, but some kind of new feeling he had never felt before. He swallowed the lump in his throat as he took a moment to regard Wendy fully. She was slightly shorter than him, sporting fair skin with freckles on her cheeks. Terrance made sure to take a brief glance down to take in her clothes, but not too much to make it look awkward, spotting a green plaid shirt, jeans, a lumberjack hat, and muddy boots. She had green eyes that stood out strikingly well to Terrance, almost shimmering in the summer heat. There was a flick from her brilliant orange hair as she cocked an eyebrow at him.

 

“Hey, you’re the no-show from last night, right?” She asked.

 

“Uh, um, well, I, uh, um…” Terrance tried to speak, but kept stumbling over his words, “I, uh, got, um, drunk last night…”

 

Wendy narrowed her eyes, “Say that again, I can’t understand you.”

 

“I said I, uh, got lost.” Terrance lied, trying to seem less idiotic, “I don’t really have a GPS or map or anything like that.”

 

“Right…” Wendy nodded, clearly she wasn’t buying it, “You suck at lying.”

 

“H-how can you tell if he’s lying?” Dipper asked, also seemingly nervous for some reason.

  


“Well, duh, dude, we put up like thirty signs for this place, everyone in Gravity Falls knows where it is.” Wendy replied with a roll of her eyes.

 

“Quick question.” Terrance almost squeaked, “What does ‘dude’ mean?” The other three just stared at him in shock.

 

Dipper chuckled, “You’re joking, right?”

 

“Uh, no, I’m not…” Terrance muttered, “You know how I’ve been living, I don’t interact with other people much besides when I work.”

 

“‘Dude’ is like when you say ‘man’, it’s a form of endearment.” Dipper explained.

 

“Oh, that makes sense!” Terrance cried, “That’s cool.”

 

Wendy crossed her arms, “Wait a minute, don’t I know you from somewhere?”

 

“Someone finally knows who I am!” Terrance announced, then slumped over, “Wait, that’s not a good thing...”

 

“Hey, yeah, you’re Pissface!” Wendy cried in realization. Both of the Pines turned to her in shock of uttering a term like that, “Whoops, sorry, guys.” Terrance’s blood ran cold, everything he had felt earlier was washed away in an instant, leaving him feeling bare.

 

“Wait, that hair…” Terrance began to realize who he was talking to.

 

“Connect the dots yet?” Wendy asked, “I’m a Corduroy.”

 

“Fu-” Terrance began before realizing his company, “Well, I didn’t know Asshead had a daughter.”

 

“Asshead? That’s lame as hell.” Wendy scoffed.

 

“I can literally see the chances all of us being friends falling apart…” Dipper wheezed to Mabel as Terrance and Wendy sneered at each other.

 

Terrance scoffed, “It’s going be a big pain if you’re here when I’m working.”

 

“Wait, _you’re_ working here!?” Wendy shouted, “Wow, I didn’t know Mr. Pines hired actual wild animals to be part of his exhibits nowadays.”

 

“He already has a witch on display when customers walk in. It must send them packing!” Terrance hissed icily.

 

“You didn’t just say that!” Wendy growled, walking up closer to Terrance. Warning lights began flashing in Terrance’s eyes as Wendy threw a punch at him. Smoothly as he could, Terrance reached up and stopped it mid-swing without even flinching. Everyone gaped as he stared into Wendy’s eyes with a mix of pity and anguish, he didn’t make any sort of move for a long time.

 

“You’re lucky you’re a girl, I would have beaten you silly otherwise.” Terrance said in a low voice, pushing Wendy back.

 

“Well, yeah, I, uh-” Wendy tried to continue her string of insults, but found herself out of breath as Terrance simply stared at her with that strange look.

 

“Yeah, I know, I’m a prick…” He said with a slow shrug, “Get used to it.” With that he started to walk away, reaching down to snatch his coat.

 

“Terrance, where are you going?” Dipper called after him.

 

“I gotta get to work,” Terrance replied, “I still need that money, y’know?”

 

* * *

 

Terrance tried his best to remain focused while he worked with Soos in the Shack’s “break room”, which was just a small closet filled with various pipelines to the rest of the building. They were adjusting a pipe that split off in two different directions, one bringing water towards the kitchen while the other went to the upstairs bathroom. Their job was to switch out the part that separated into the two different lines from the larger main pipe.

 

“So how do you like Gravity Falls so far?” Soos broke the silence.

 

Terrance grimaced as he tugged on a section of the divider with his wrench, “‘So far’? Why do you make it seem like I’m some kind of tourist, I’ve lived here my whole life.”

 

“My bad, dude, it’s just a lot of people come here from Corvallis a ton,” Soos explained, “This is a tourist attraction, after all.”

 

Terrance couldn’t help but laugh, “You mean ‘trap’.”

 

“Mr. Pines does his best to make the Shack the best for the customers.” Soos told Terrance.

 

The teen raised a brow, “Well, you’re certainly optimistic, and naive...” He made sure to whisper that last part under his breath. His face had gone red from the amount of pressure he was putting on the joint between the divider and one of the smaller pipes. When it came free, Terrance sagged in relief. Plumbing was one of the things he wasn’t quite accustomed to as a handyman. After all, he didn’t have that luxury back home.

 

“You look tired.” Soos offered as a response. Apparently it had now become a game to point out the other’s obvious features.

 

“As I live and breath…” Terrance huffed, as he used his strength to push on the other joint, “Every waking moment of every day.” The divider came loose, allowing Terrance to hand it to Soos as he took hold of the new one, securing it on the main pipe.

 

The older man flashed him a concerned look, “Why don’t you, like, take time off, dude?”

 

“Ha,” Terrance managed as he began violently screwing the first joint into place, “I have to make about another grand, and seven-hundred bucks to boot, before the end of the month. I don’t have any damn time to take off in the first place. Although,” He paused, wagging his finger at Soos with a excited grin, “It is Loose Wednesday.”

 

“What’s Loose Wednesday?” Soos asked as he took a wrench and started to work on the other joint.

 

“Well, just between you and me, Loose Wednesday is when I let loose in order to help relax halfway through the week, you know?” Terrance explained, “I have a little supplier from Bend that comes through ever-so-often. I get some quality shine for a very low price.”

 

“Shine? Floor shine or polisher?” Soos questioned innocently. Terrance grunted, deciding maybe it was best not to tell Soos much about his secret, illegal activities, it wouldn’t really help him in the long run.

 

“Floor shine,” Terrance responded nonchalantly, “Lemme just tell you that _really_ makes a client happy when you make those floors sparkle.” Of course, that statement was completely ridiculous, if Terrance had to polish floors, he would seriously start reconsidering staying in this town.

 

“Aw, nice, dude!” Soos exclaimed, as he secured the second joint, seeming completely oblivious to Terrance’s sarcasm.

 

Terrance paused before pitching a question to Soos out of curiosity, “At what point does something become an accident and what point does it become on purpose?” He had heard his father ask something similar once, but he couldn’t remember how it went exactly.

 

“Uh…” Soos considered this for a moment, “What’re we talking about?”

 

“How I burned down that section of the woods last month.” Terrance sighed, “Now the Spawn of Corduroy hates me. Lumberjacks tend to hate it when you literally burn down their source of money.”

 

“The who-now?” Soos asked in confusion.

 

Terrance rolled his eyes, “Wendy. We just met and she already hates me, my exhaustion didn’t really help either with talking to her. Well, neither did calling me ‘Pissface’.”

 

“Whoa, dude, no way is Wendy like that.” Soos responded.

 

“With Manly Dan as her dad, there’s a lot worse shit that’ll probably come out of her mouth once we start running into each other more.” Terrance mused, “Still, I felt something weird when I saw her for the first time. She’s really cute, no wait, that’s not right…”

 

“Beautiful?” Soos offered.

 

Terrance nodded in agreement, “That makes it sound better. Saying ‘cute’ makes it sound like I’m talking about a puppy or something.”

 

“Oh, but dude, they are!” Soos exclaimed.

 

“I’ve never actually seen a puppy in person,” Terrance said aloud after a moment of thinking, “Guess that’s another thing for the bucket list.” He finished securing the joint and put his tools away.

 

“You seriously have a lot of stuff we need to show you, dude, a puppy is definitely first.” Soos insisted, “What else?”

 

“One of those new cell phones, a modern muscle car, chewing gum, cotton candy, a flashlight,” Terrance listed out loud, “I can think of a bunch more.”

 

“Haven’t you, like, been to the store before?” Soos questioned.

 

“Well, yeah, I just have never seen or used those things up close and personal before.” Terrance explained, “I haven’t had the money to buy them, either.”

 

“Consider yourself starting that list tomorrow.” Soos said with a wink.

 

Terrance grinned, “Hey, man, I appreciate it.” They both packed up their tools and turned the water back on so that it would flow through the new divider.

 

“Say, you think I should say anything to Wendy?” Terrance asked, “Maybe apologize? I dunno, don’t really have the willpower to do much anymore, so that might have to wait ‘till later.”

 

“Just take it slow, dude. That’s what Dipper is doing.” Soos told him.

 

“Oh, right, Dipper, god, forgot that he had a thing going for her.” Terrance mused, “Guess I’ll just kinda focus on being friends first, you know, hopefully without Manly Dan hunting me down.”

 

“Yeah, for sure, dude.” Soos agreed.

 

“Alright, Soos, good work today, I’m going to head home and get loose, you enjoy yourself tonight.” Terrance said, shaking Soos’s hand firmly.

 

“You too, dude, have fun with the shine!” Soos called out after him as Terrance walked out of the “break room”, snickering at Soos’s statement. He found the gift shop for the shack closed down with the lights off and decided that it would be right to just leave without checking up on anyone first.

 

He went out to his truck, placed his toolbox in the back and hopped into the driver’s seat and pulled out of the area, heading home to unwind before things would go south again. What he didn’t realize, however, was that Dipper and Mabel had stowed away under a tarp in the bed of the truck.

 

“Are you sure about this, Dipper?” Mabel asked her brother.

 

“Of course I’m sure, all we have to is make sure to keep quiet.” Dipper explained.

 

“And if he’s a monster?” Mabel questioned.

 

“Then we really gotta make sure he doesn’t see us.” Dipper responded. The truck pulled itself through the woods of Gravity Falls, speeding to get Terrance home. Up above, the skies began to clear up, as if setting up a dramatic stage for the act that would play out soon enough...


	3. The Beast of the Backwoods

Both Dipper and Mabel made extra sure to remain motionless when Terrance’s truck finally came to a halt and sputtered out for the night. They heard the rickety door open as Terrance lurched out, cursing to himself as he slammed to door and walked off.

 

“Are we gonna follow him?” Mabel asked in a whisper.

 

Dipper shook his head, “Are you crazy? He just got home, it's not like he's gonna just relax and transform or something.”

 

“So how long are we gonna have to sit here?” Mabel questioned, “I have to go to the bathroom.”

 

“Are you kidding me, Mabel?” Dipper groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose, “Why didn't you go before we got in here?”

 

“I didn't have to go then!” Mabel nearly shouted back. Dipper jumped to clamp her mouth shut.

 

“Mabel, you'll get us caught.” Dipper hissed as he laid down flat, “Take a nap or something.”

 

“Dipper, we can't just sleep, we'll miss everything!” Mabel said, putting her hands on her hips.

 

“I meant  _ you  _ should sleep, I'm not missing this opportunity.” Dipper retorted.

 

“Well then, let's go!” Mabel exclaimed, jumping out of the truck bed.

 

“Hey, Mabel, get back here!” Dipper called out in a hiss as he was forced to follow her. They darted the twenty yards through to Terrance’s cabin. There wasn't much to see out here, only a flickering glow from inside one of the windows. Dipper could see his sister through the gloom, hunkering down below the window that emanated with light.

 

“Really, Mabel, you just had to run over here!?” Dipper scolded quietly. Mabel raised a finger to her lips.

 

“No, you can't just run around and do whatever you want! We are so close to figuring out this mystery!” Dipper said a bit louder. Mabel tapped her finger on her lips more urgently.

 

“Why couldn't you have just gone out in the woods and then have come back?” Dipper asked, not practically yelling.

 

“Dipper, shush!” Mabel hissed as there was the sound of Terrance bumping into something before he swore loud enough for them to hear. Mabel quickly popped up to look through the window and immediately came back down with her hands over her mouth, blushing heavily.

 

“What is it? Dipper asked.

 

“He's naked…” Mabel murmured, embarrassed for what she saw.

 

“Geez…” Dipper muttered, “What was he doing?”

 

“I don't know, walking around?” Mabel responded, still overcome by the experience, “I need a minute to get over what I just saw.” She sat down against the wall of the cabin as she pulled her sweater over her head. Dipper gave her a worried look before taking a deep breath and took a glance through the window. His heart nearly jumped out of his chest as he noticed that Terrance was right standing there. Thankfully, he wasn't facing the window, instead he was arguing with someone inside. Still, it didn't really help that Dipper had to practically stare at Terrance’s rear the entire time while he tried to see who he has talking to.

 

“Why did it have to be tonight?” He heard Terrance groan, “It’s Loose Wednesday, goddamn it!”

 

“Loose Wednesday?” Dipper repeated, clearly confused.

 

“I don't have much time,” Terrance stated, “I'll just go outside and get it over with.”

 

“Uh oh,” Dipper muttered, crouching down by his sister, “Mabel, we need to move!” It was too late as the door opened and Terrance walked outside, basking in the flickering light from within the cabin. He went out about twenty feet, standing in his front yard. Dipper took a moment to look at the piles of junk lying around. He could see old household appliances, car husks, and random strips of sheet metal. Terrance simply stood among the assorted trash, staring up at the sky.

 

“Dipper, let’s go.” Mabel whispered, tugging on her brother’s shirt. Suddenly, Terrance turned around, staring at them. The glow from inside his cabin shone across his corneas, reflecting as yellow orbs. It almost looked like if you were to shine a light on a dog’s eyes, that eerie reflection almost looked exactly the same.

 

_ “Wait, just like a dog…”  _ Dipper thought,  _ “A dog!? Oh no...” _

 

“I can see you,” Terrance called out to them, “I thought you wouldn't get into my business!”

 

“Look, Terrance, we’re sorry!” Dipper cried, stepping into view with Mabel behind him, “We just wanted to check up on you!”

 

“You don't understand. There isn't much time.” Terrance told them. Dipper could see the clouds parting to reveal the stars in the night sky.

 

“I know it was wrong to come here, but we-” Dipper began.

 

“Dipper! You need to get out of here!” Terrance shouted, sneering at him. Dipper could see those long teeth of Terrance’s in the flickering light. His fingers were curling over and over, seemingly more spindly than usual.

 

“Those eyes, the teeth, I know what Terrance is!” Dipper exclaimed in terror, everything coming together.

 

“Dipper?” Mabel asked urgently, pulling on her brother’s jacket.

 

“He's-he’s a…” Dipper drifted off. Right on cue, a pale light began to descend through the treetops.

 

“Run! I won't be able to stop it!” Terrance screamed, dropping to his knees.

 

“Dipper!” Mabel yelled, tugging even harder. The light of the moon fell across Terrance’s shaking form. He lurched back as if someone had pressed a hot brand to his back. His mouth opened all the way as he screamed in agony, his teeth visibly extending.

 

“He's a werewolf…” Dipper murmured in shock, “Terrance is a  _ werewolf _ !!” He screamed, stepping back as the older teen roared at them, the long teeth and glowing eyes becoming more prominent on his face.

 

The Pines twins watched as one of Terrance’s shoulders jerked back, a distinct cracking noise sounding off of the trees as the teen bent forward. His other followed suit as Terrance’s screams became more louder. His long arms flailed as thick muscles began to bulge, his fingers digging into the ground as they realigned into claws. Terrance thrust one of his arms up, the twins catching sight of the sharp nails sprouting from his fingertips. Slamming, his hand back down onto the ground, tears could be seen streaming from Terrance’s eyes as his face started to change.

 

Dark brown fur the color of Terrance’s hair crept up his neck, swarming around his face. A series of cracking sounded off as his mouth and nose began to extend into a snout. His nose shrank while his jaws extended, his lips stretching to reveal his full maw of sharp teeth. Two pointy ears sprouted up out of the top of the shaggy hair on his head. Finally, the sclera in Terrance's eyes disappeared as his irises expanded, leaving them spheres of wicked yellow. With a pain-filled howl to the heavens, Terrance the werewolf had fully transformed.

 

The vicious beast began to stare down the Pines twins with a glare of feral rage.

 

“Okay, we can run now.” Dipper squeaked as he and Mabel sprinted off into the darkness. They could feel the huge monster as much as they could hear him as he bounded towards them, snarling at his soon-to-be prey. The twins ran past Terrance’s truck, its transformed owner reaching one of his long arms out for Dipper, missing by a hairsbreadth as the curved claws raked the rusty hood of the truck. There was a flash in the gloom after this, allowing Dipper to catch sight of the haunting sneer of the werewolf in the windshield. Darting left, Dipper snagged hold of his sister as they sprinted into the thick forest.

 

Terrance the werewolf was still right behind them, growling as he swung both of his massive sets of claws at the Pines twins. Mabel yelped as one of the nails tore free a lock of her hair, nearly causing her to fall as they dropped off a little dip in the terrain. Though Dipper caught the trunk of a tree growing up out of the ridge as he slipped, Mabel unfortunately rolled down and hit the ground with a whimper. Terrance didn’t have much luck either, as his feral state of mind had caused him to run right off the drop with abandon, causing him to fall headfirst into the undergrowth.

 

“Mabel, are you okay!?” Dipper cried, running over to his sister.

 

“Ow, yeah, that wasn’t a very soft landing…” Mabel groaned as her brother helped her up.

 

“I think Terrance got knocked out.” Dipper commented, staring at the unmoving shape in the brush several feet away.

 

“What do we do now?” Mabel asked, looking quite frightened.

 

“Well,” Dipper said pulling the journal out of the back of his pants, finding it a quite convenient place to store it while on the move, “I need to read up on werewolves first…” He flipped to a page that he had marked with one of Mabel’s stickers, finding the sketch of a snarling lycanthrope illustrated in striking detail.

 

“Wolfsbane, silver…” Dipper murmured, reading the listed weaknesses, “‘The wolfsbane plant, when properly processed, can create a liquid substance that can burn lycanthropes on touch and is lethal if exposed to their bloodstream. I have heard accounts of Native American tribes planting wolfsbane around the edges of their territories to keep potential lycanthropes out. This only applies to transformed lycanthropes, however, as those who are not transformed will only experience discomfort and anxiety when near a wolfsbane plant.’” Dipper recited from the Author’s notes.

 

“Is there any around here?” Mabel asked, peering into the gloom.

 

“We don’t have time to look, Mabel,” Dipper informed her, “Let’s get out of here before Terrance wakes up.” They scaled back up the incline they had fallen down from, walking back towards the cabin.

 

“How do we get back home?” Mabel asked, her question fell on deaf ears as Dipper continued to read the journal.

 

“‘Silver, like wolfsbane, is another deterrent for lycanthropes. However, not only is it in more frequent supply than wolfsbane, it is proven to be highly more effective. Studies have shown that continuous exposure to silver on a lycanthrope’s skin can cause permanent scars to form. This may prove to be a way of identifying one, almost like the branding of cattle, though this is significantly more inhumane and something I do not condone.’” Dipper muttered another section from the journal entry.

 

“Dipper?” Mabel called to her brother, tugging on his arm.

 

“What? Oh, right, I’m sorry, Mabel.” Dipper responded, coming back to his senses.

 

“How do we get back?” Mabel repeated her question.

 

“Hmm,” Dipper mused, glancing at Terrance’s truck, “I don’t suppose you want to drive several miles through the backwoods in order to get back the Shack, would you?”

 

Mabel slammed her fist into her hand with a determined look on her face, “Let’s do it!” Though it took some work, the twins clambered up into the truck.

 

“Oh, look, how convenient, the keys are in the ignition.” Dipper said sarcastically as he got into the driver’s seat.

 

“The plot thickens!” Mabel commented, extending her hands outward dramatically. Dipper tried turning the key, only for the engine to cough and sputter.

 

“Of course, that had to happen.” Dipper grumbled with a roll of his eyes.

 

“Uh, Dipper, we got a bigger problem.” Mabel informed her brother, pointing into the woods as a pair of yellow eyes peered from the darkness. Terrance crept forward in his massive werewolf form, realizing that his prey was now trapped.

 

“Come on, come on…” Dipper muttered frantically, turning the key over and over. Terrance got ever-so closer, his massive body arching up as he regarded Mabel’s terrified face.

 

“I  _ really  _ wish Terrance would’ve been a vampire instead.” Mabel whimpered as Terrance got a foot from the truck and stood up on his hind legs, standing nearly seven-and-a-half feet tall, a growl coming from his throat caused the blood of the Pines twins to run cold.

 

“ _ Come on!! _ ” Dipper screamed, shoving the key forward as much as he could. Finally, the engine jumped into action, the headlights flaring on suddenly. Terrance was surprised from this, stumbling back with a shocked yelp.

 

“Dipper, let’s go!” Mabel screamed, “He’s blinded!”

 

“Sorry, Terry, but we gotta borrow this!” Dipper called out, grabbing the shift knob before realizing he wasn’t pushing the brake down.

 

Another thing: He was half of a foot too short to reach the pedals in the first place.

 

“Mabel, hold down the brake!” Dipper ordered as Terrance snarled, regaining his senses. Mabel lunged down below, slamming both hands onto the gas pedal.

 

“Wrong pedal!” Dipper shouted as the engine roared loudly. Terrance let out a deep barking noise as he took a step towards the truck, as if accepting an issued challenge.

 

“Sorry, sorry!” Mabel responded, shoving in the other pedal instead. Dipper, who was already gripping the shift knob with a white-knuckle grip, ripped the transmission into drive.

 

“Okay, now hit the-” Dipper began before the passenger window shattered, showering him with pieces of glass. Terrance’s long snout began to lean in from outside, his pupils flaring at the sight of Dipper.

 

“THE GAS! HIT THE GAS!!” Dipper screamed as Terrance went to lunge for a bite. Mabel obliged immediately, the trunk plowing forward to catch Terrance by the neck. As the truck began picking up speed, Terrance let out a yelp as he came free, falling out of sight. Dipper’s heart jumped as he yanked the wheel right, steering the truck out of the way of Terrance’s cabin.

 

“This is kinda like when we escaped from the gnomes in the golf cart!” Mabel called up to him.

 

“Yeah, but this is  _ a lot _ harder than that!” Dipper replied, now whipping the wheel left to avoid an oncoming tree, “You need to be ready to switch pedals, Mabel, we don’t want to be constantly going full speed.” He maneuvered the rickety truck around the cabin, catching sight of Terrance bounding towards them, having recovered already.

 

“On second thought, let’s try to go full speed  _ most  _ of the time.” Dipper corrected as Terrance’s massive, animal-esque body came flying in for a second bout. Due to the speed of the truck, however, the werewolf only managed to collide with the side of the bed, snagging onto the edge with one of his claws. Dipper steered the truck onto the narrow trail of a road that led out of Terrance’s property. As for the werewolf himself, the beastly teen managed to grab hold of the truck with both claws now, managing to wrap his legs over the side of the bed as he gradually made his way towards Dipper inch by inch. Dipper glanced over at the side mirror to see the nightmarish beast closing in.

 

“This might get a bit bumpy!” Dipper called out, slowly drifting towards the edge of the trail, the trees lining it getting closer. One tree dragged itself down Terrance’s back, causing the enraged werewolf to falter, one of his claws coming loose. The second tree smashed right into Terrance’s shoulder, causing him to slide down the length of the truck’s bed, a screeching sound from the claws dragging through the chassis of the truck caused Dipper to shudder.

 

“Okay, this should be it…” Dipper muttered, as another tree approached. Terrance, already stunned, recovered just in time to be hit directly by the tree at about fifty miles per hour. The cracking sound resulting was so loud that Mabel flinched from her position down by the pedals. Terrance’s large body finally came loose off of the truck, collapsing somewhere on the dark trail.

 

“Dipper, what happened?” Mabel called up to her brother as he centered the truck back on the middle of the trail.

 

“Terrance fell off,” Dipper informed her, “I really hope we didn’t kill him or anything…”

 

“There’s no way we could’ve done that, right?” Mabel asked, clearly worried.

 

“N-No, Mabel, he’ll be fine. It was only a tree…” Dipper murmured uncertainly.

 

“A tree hit him while we’re going, like, a hundred miles per hour!” Mabel cried in a panicked tone, “There’s no way we didn’t kill him!”

 

“We’re fine, we got away, we’ll check on Terrance in the morning as soon as we get up.” Dipper responded, worriedly rubbing the steering wheel. They drove in uncomfortable silence back to the Shack, the twins making sure that the truck had slowed down to reasonable speeds so they wouldn’t appear too suspicious. When they arrived, Dipper parked the truck by the totem pole and killed the engine. Without a word, the twins went up to their room and got ready for bed. Neither of them could fall asleep soundly as they laid in their respective beds.

 

“I feel so stupid…” Dipper murmured as he stared at the ceiling.

 

“It’s not your fault, Dipper.” Mabel told him, turning to look at her brother, “You didn’t know Terrance was going to turn out to be a werewolf.”

 

“Well, I had my suspicions,” Dipper retorted, “I did have ‘lycanthrope’ listed as something Terrance could be.”

 

“Well, at least we know now.” Mabel replied, offering a smile.

 

“Yeah,” Dipper said, bringing himself to grin a little, “At least I was right in a way.”

 

“Just because Terrance is a werewolf, doesn’t mean we can’t be friends with him.” Mabel pointed out, “We can help him the next time he transforms, however we can.”

 

“I think the moon is done being full this month,” Dipper responded, glancing out the window to stare at the pale orb in the sky, “Which is a good thing for Terrance, dude’s had a rough night.”

 

“It must be so lonely, living like that…” Mabel murmured.

 

“I’ll bet it is, but we’ll fix that,” Dipper stated, smirking over at his sister, “Because we’re going to help him just as you said, right?”

 

“Right!” Mabel responded ecstatically, laying back down, “Gosh, that made me feel so much better.”

 

Dipper chuckled as he got comfortable, “Good, hopefully, Terrance is alright, though.”

 

“Yeah…” Mabel whispered, “Goodnight, Dipper.”

 

“‘Night, Mabel.” Dipper said, turning away from his sister. In truth, he was obviously still concerned with Terrance’s wellbeing. Even though he was a giant beast, Dipper still theorized that blow should’ve knocked Terrance out, if not kill him. With the probable disrepair the truck was in now, with all the scratch marks and the broken window, Terrance didn’t exactly have much to wake up to tomorrow. Though Dipper wasn’t the best at raising people’s moods, he knew for a fact that Mabel was quite the expert. Terrance could use some positive reinforcement after having “Loose Wednesday” canceled on him, whatever that was. Dipper eased into his sleep with the hopeful thoughts of helping out Terrance first thing in the morning, ignoring the churning anxiety in his gut the best he could.

 

* * *

 

It was eight in the morning when the Pines twins woke up, running out of the Mystery Shack to hunt down Terrance now that it was daytime out. Unfortunately, the golf cart was still wrecked from their first supernatural encounter with the colony of gnomes.

 

“How’re we going to be back over to Terrance’s?” Dipper questioned.

 

“We can drive his truck again,” Mabel offered, “It worked last night.”

 

“But, Mabel, this time we could be spotted pretty easily in broad daylight.” Dipper countered.

 

His sister pulled out something from within her sweater, “Here, put this on.”

 

Dipper raised an eyebrow as he stared at the item, “A fake mustache? You can’t be serious.”

 

Mabel shrugged with a grin, “No one will really have time to look inside and get a close look at you, Dipper! Come on, it’ll work!”

 

“I’m twelve-years-old, Mabel. I’m lucky I got us out of there alive last night. All because I used to watch how dad would drive back home, in fact. I couldn’t possibly do it again!” Dipper retorted with a dramatic sweep of his hand.

 

“Hey, I helped, too!” Mabel stated, placing her hands on her hips.

 

“I know, Mabel, and we both survived as a team. It’s just I don’t want to make this any harder than it has to be, y’know?” Dipper explained.

 

Mabel raised a brow, “Wouldn’t driving make it easier?” Dipper opened his mouth to argue but found that he had been properly bested. He slowly shut his mouth as he pondered a response.

 

“Yeah, I guess you’re right…” He said after a moment, taking the fake mustache and putting it on, “I guess a few miles won’t kill us.”

 

“With your steering, I wouldn’t be surprised!” Mabel joked, shoving her brother lightly as they walked over to the truck. Dipper chuckled, pushing back as they got to the driver’s seat door. Both twins clambered in and Dipper started the engine after a few attempts.

 

“Okay, let’s get out of here before Grunkle Stan sees us.” Dipper stated, causing Mabel to hold down the brake pedal and flash her brother a thumbs up, signaling him to shift into drive. Once the gears had changed, they pulled away from the Mystery Shack. About five minutes later, they turned out onto the tiny trail that lead to Terrance’s cabin.

 

“That wasn’t so bad, I think your mustache worked, sis.” Dipper told his sister to make her feel accomplished.

 

“Sure it did,” She responded, “My plans  _ always  _ work!” The drove slowly down the trail, looking along the treeline for any signs of last night’s struggle.

 

“Think I found where he fell off.” Dipper announced, easing the truck off of the trail as much as he could. Mabel helped him park and the two siblings clambered out to assess the damage. They spotted the birch tree that apparently knocked Terrance off of the truck the night before, the trunk missing a large chunk about four feet up from the base. After that, a section of the vegetation could be seen visibly flattened from their position. The twins crossed the trail to inspect the crushed stalks of the tiny plants that grew along the path. They walked down a little slope to find a figure was lying in the grass fifty feet away.

 

“Terrance! Are you okay!?” Dipper called, running towards the fallen teen. They heard a weak groan, almost sounding annoyed.

 

“I’m naked.” The twins heard the teen grumble. Mabel instantly stopped and turned around.

 

“Uh…” Dipper thought for a solution, “Here, I’ll just lay my vest over your, uh, waist…” He took off his vest, looking away as he carefully laid it over Terrance’s groin. The teen was calmly lying in the grass, simply staring up at the sky with a somewhat look of annoyance.

 

There was a moment of silence, “You two are the biggest idiots I have ever met.” Terrance said with a small shake of his head, not even bothering to look over.

 

“I said we were sorry!” Dipper responded as Mabel walked up to his side, “We weren’t exactly expecting you to turn into a werewolf.”

 

“So that’s what I am…” Terrance murmured, “It has a name…”

 

“Well, yeah, haven’t you heard of werewolves before?” Dipper asked.

 

“How many times do I have to tell you?” Terrance retorted, clearly irritated, “I haven’t really had the chance to learn much lately.”

 

“Why is that, exactly?” Dipper questioned, “You haven’t really told us anything about you.”

 

“What, you think just because we’re chums or something I’m just gonna tell you my life story? Be serious.” Terrance huffed.

 

“Fine, it’s not like we drove out to see how you were doing.” Dipper grumbled, crossing his arms.

 

“As you can see-” Terrance began before stopping, looking over at the twins, “Wait, what did you say?”

 

“We-” Dipper started before Mabel held his mouth shut, “We rode here! On our bikes!”

 

Terrance narrowed his eyes, “Bullshit, you said you  _ drove  _ here! Don’t lie to me!”

 

“You’re the one who asked…” Dipper said quietly with a roll of his eyes.

 

“We had to take your truck, Terrance!” Mabel told the teen, “We’re sorry, but you were going to  _ kill  _ us!”

 

“ _ I _ wasn’t going to kill you,” Terrance replied through grit teeth, “I was supposed to be far away from everyone before I’d turn, but look where that got me.”

 

“Well, now we know.” Dipper stated, crossing his arms, “And we’re going to help you.”

 

Terrance let out a bark-like cackle, “If I could stand, I’d hit you for saying something dumb like that!” Dipper grimaced with a mix of anger and fear, but his possible retort was interrupted by Mabel.

 

“Wait, why can’t you stand?” Mabel asked.

 

“Think about it, I just turned back into a human from being a monster, all of my bones feel like they were just broken and shoved back together again. Not the best idea to be getting up, now is it?” Terrance replied in a cold manner.

 

“What’s your deal, man?” Dipper asked angrily, “You just snap all the time on whoever says something to you.”

 

“That’s because I haven’t slept in days!” Terrance shouted to the heavens, looking almost insane from the bags under his widened eyes stared up at the sky, “It just keeps getting worse and worse.”

 

“Take a day off.” Mabel muttered quietly, almost too soft to hear.

 

“I can’t…” Terrance groaned, relaxing again, “I’m just a guy in a poor town that doesn’t really need my services. Conveniently enough, when they do, they just pile it on me like there’s no tomorrow. I can’t complain, though, because when work gets piled on me, that’s a good thing.” Dipper and Mabel exchanged a sad glance.

 

“We’re sorry, Terrance, we didn’t know.” Mabel told him softly.

 

“I tried jumping off a cliff once,” Terrance muttered quietly, seemingly ignoring Mabel, “Guess the beast inside of me was tougher than I thought.” The look the Pines twins now shared was one of shock.

 

“Hey, man, everything will work out.” Dipper tried to reassure the older teen.

 

Terrance slowly looked over at him, “You guys know why Wendy hates me?”

 

“Because of that forest fire you set off a month ago, which makes sense, because that lost a lot of revenue for her father.” Dipper responded, showing that he understood what Terrance meant.

 

“Mostly,” Terrance replied, “But there’s a rumor going around about a monster in Gravity Falls. It’s causing property damage, attacking livestock. They call it the ‘Beast of the Backwoods’. Wendy’s dad, that idiot Manly Dan, is leading the hunt to kill the thing. I’m a prime suspect for keeping it as a pet or something because of how suspicious I apparently am. That’s another reason why the cops check on me. I just lie and tell them I haven’t seen a thing, they can’t prove I’m involved.”

 

“So do you actually have a monster as a pet?” Mabel asked.

 

“No, Mabel, don’t you see?” Dipper responded, resting his hand on his sister’s shoulder.

 

“See what?” Mabel replied.

 

“Terrance is the Beast of the Backwoods.” Dipper stated.

 

“Exactly…” Terrance sighed, “Can I trust you two to keep my secret? I don’t really want to get chased out of town with torches and pitchforks just yet.”

 

“Of course, dude, your secret is safe with us.” Dipper told their older friend.

 

“Locked down.” Mabel stated, making the gesture of zipping her lips and throwing away the key.

 

“Good, I think I can finally say I have some friends.” Terrance said with a sly grin.

 

“You can count on it!” Mabel cried enthusiastically.

 

Terrance chuckled, “Okay, we got off a bit off-topic, so what exactly did you guys do to my truck?”

 

“Uh…” Mabel deadpanned, looking over at Dipper who rubbed the back of his neck, “It’s more like what  _ you  _ did to it.”

 

“Oh god…” Terrance groaned, “How is it that I’ve been up for not even ten minutes and things are already in a rut?”

 

“Well, let’s get you up,” Dipper said, “You don’t want to just lie here all day, do you?”

 

“I’d love that, actually. I’ll get up, though, just give me like, twenty minutes,” Terrance said, closing his eyes, “I need some sleep.”

 

“Alright,” Dipper conceded, sitting down next to the sleeping teen, Mabel joining him, “You deserve that much.” For once, Terrance found himself falling asleep with a smile on his face, actually excited to see what the new day would bring...


End file.
